Mahi x 2 Coconut Curry Stew

Thursday 17 May
A great dish from the June 2007 Food & Wine.
It's a recipe by Padma Lakshmi (great name, by the way), who's not only the overly glamorous host of Top Chef, but is also married to Salman Rushdie. And by the way, she is NOT allowed to invent a dish named "Salmon Rushdie," as we have already done that - all right, we keep saying we're going to, and we will… eventually . . . along with Feta Complet.
We didn't have any fennel, and Jagdeep, our local Indian grocer (who's not much of a businessman, to tell the truth), didn't have kaffir lime leaves, though he does have fresh curry leaves in the fridge in the back. But the dish is wonderful even without them.
Here's her unaltered recipe, which we quartered to make two servings:

Ingredients
Eight 6-ounce skinless mahimahi fillets
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 garlic cloves, peeled
3 large shallots, thinly sliced (1 cup)
8 small dried red chiles
12 fresh curry leaves
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
8 kaffir lime leaves
1 large fennel bulb—halved, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces (4 cups)
4 cups carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon Madras curry powder
Two 15-ounce cans unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup cilantro leaves, for garnish

Directions
Put the mahimahi fillets in a large, shallow dish. Pour the lemon juice over the fish and season lightly with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In a very large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the oil. Add the garlic cloves and cook over moderately high heat until sizzling, about 2 minutes. Add the shallots and cook over moderate heat, stirring until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the chiles and curry leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Add the ginger and lime leaves and cook for 2 minutes. Add the fennel, carrots and curry powder and season lightly with salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring a few times, until the carrots are tender, about 10 minutes longer.
Add the mahimahi and any accumulated juices to the casserole, nestling the fish into the stew. Cover and simmer over low heat, shifting the fish a few times, until it is just cooked, about 15 minutes. Transfer the fillets to a large, deep platter. Pour the sauce over and around the fish. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.